Cook: It's time to fight

Wednesday 11 January 2006 00:12 BST

Alastair Cook is confident England have shrugged off the disappointment of Adelaide and are ready to begin an Ashes fightback in this week's third Test.

England's side looked heartbroken and despondent in the immediate aftermath of the previous Test, when they competed with Australia for four days only to collapse to a six-wicket defeat on the final day.

"After Adelaide it was very disappointing, it was a devastating loss but it's gone now," stressed Cook. "We've had to get over it and we have got over it and we're going into the next Test as confident as we can be."

Since the second Test defeat there have been rumours of splits in the camp, but England have responded well with nearly all the bowlers and the batsmen performing well in the two-day practice match against Western Australia this weekend.

He added: "The two-day practice game was very good for a lot of people and they got a lot out of it. We can't sit around here sulking any more and we've got to come out again in Perth and fight again and hopefully this time the result will be different."

Lifted by his century, which included 14 boundaries against admittedly inferior opposition, Cook stressed: "Cricket is a strange game and it can change very quickly and that's what we've got to believe.

"We've got to deal with what has happened and we've tried to stay as positive as we can.

"We've got to believe we can do it - if we don't believe we can do it, no one else is going to either.

"Only we can get out there and do something about it and we're going to stay as confident as we can. It's going to be tough, there's no denying that, but this is where we can stand up and have a real fight."